Some went deep and light, some went as shallow as possible. There was a depth factor in structural scoring, so going shallow proved to be beneficial...which is why the home team won at 5.5" depth - Chico however, a bit more with their truss, but at 101 lbs (100 lb comp. min.) they took that award home - Break out the Finite Element Analysis for that sucker, or just make it and test it eh? UF finished second - also shallow, and a construction sequence that was both simple and exciting - some real creativity on their design, and a great paint job -- 2nd place overall 2001.
How light can you go? 120 lbs? 150 lbs? At 19 feet of span, too light (w/o 7' depth) may hurt more that you think -- gotta keep it stable too, no buckling allowed!
Chico State 2001:
Clemson Tigers - 2001 NSSBC Host and Champs, note the low depth, the double 2x1 tube beam design, and the deflection flexibles on their end cantilevers - a lot of team's incorporated this backwards deflection relative bending to trick the gauges - it has since been eliminated more or less. Structural Mechanics are essential to accurately predict steel behavior under load, thus the inspired Innovation Award for their dual span beam in 2004 -- cheesy award from the judging committee, to make up an award, invite them to Nats under agreement, then DQ them, harsh...the um...TIG wire for a tool was pretty rough though - but sometimes you have to just go for it. Big Brass to Clemson in 2K4. Some Teams try to win the competition, some try to win and aim to get the Rules rewritten because of their creative thinking.
UF in 2001, extremely simple, stiff, shallow, heavy, good looking bridge.
WTF? Ah the good ole' days where you got 4' on the member. Those are some crazy cantilevers.
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